My Senpai Is Annoying (known in Japanese as Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi, "Story of a Kouhai Annoyed by her Senpai") is an office romantic comedy webmanga by Shiro Manta, which began serialization in the digital manga magazine Comic POOL in 2017.
Igarashi Futaba is a hardworking young Office Lady who has an annoying senpai, Takeda. She constantly complains about his loud and boisterous personality, but her friends and coworkers can see through her complaints and that she actually has romantic feelings for him. Meanwhile, Futaba struggles to come to terms with those feelings herself.
Won first place at the Tsugi Manga Awards, webmanga category in 2018.
On 2020 the manga was licensed
by Seven Seas for English release.
An anime adaptation started airing in October 2021, produced by Dogakobo.
My Senpai Is Annoying provides examples of:
- All Men Are Perverts:
- Natsumi and Sakura are often hit on by passing men who try to ask them out and won't take no for an answer.
- Hijikata is a hopeless romantic who can't stop talking about girls.
- Adaptation Expansion: Alongside generally being a Pragmatic Adaptation that rearranges many of the standalone chapters to be depicted earlier or later than in the manga, the anime also has some cases of taking single chapters and expanding them to fill out whole episodes, most notably the first.
- Aside Glance: One scene has Futaba forget to remove her Fake Boobs while on the subway, and of course runs into Takeda and Kazama. Kazama immediately notices the difference, Takeda doesn't, and Kazama's gaze keeps snapping back to Takeda and even the audience with an "are you seeing this" expression. When asking if Takeda noticed anything, Takeda thinks she must have changed her hairstyle.
- Artistic License – Law: Futaba attacks Kazama on live TV for mentioning her relationship with Takeda. While Played For Laughs, Futaba would had been arrested for assault and battery even if Kazama didn't make any report since this happens live.
- Author Avatar: Shiro Manta represents himself in the manga with a frowning completely blank-white sphere-headed character, and alongside showing up in the personal afterword section he also inserts said avatar in the background at various points as a gag, like popping up in the office or representing the Your Name Shout-Out.
- Beta Couple: Kazama and Sakurai aren't dating yet, but they are attracted to each other and often hang out outside of work. They both also like shipping Futaba and Takeda.
- Birthday Buddies: In one chapter, Futaba and Takeda find out they share the same birthdate and buy each other a bouquet of tulips.
- Caretaker Reversal: The Sick Episode features an example in spirit that is subverted on technicality. Futaba gets sick and Takeda has to take care of her, which not long afterwards is followed by Takeada getting sick and needing Futaba to take care of him. The subversion comes from the fact Takeda is way too physically sturdy to actually catch the cold from Futaba, and instead he got sick because he decided to do waterfall training during the winter, which he only realizes was a bad idea after he already got sick.
- The Cat Came Back: Kabukichi, a beetle Futaba and Takeda find in a park, which keeps following Futaba no matter how hard she and Takeda try to return it to nature. Eventually, she decides to just keep it as a pet.
- The Chikan: Takeda catches one filming up Futaba's skirt on a train. He judo-throws the man to the ground, which ends up on social media.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Sakurai's feelings for Kazama is hinted to have started way back when they were still in school, and is implied to be the reason why she keeps turning down the numerous date proposals she receives. Kazama's crush on her hasn't been revealed as to when it started, though.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each character has their own color motif. Futaba is green, Takeda is purple, Sakurai is pink, Kazama is blue, and Natsumi is yellow. The black-and-white panels add a splash of color to each character like Futaba’s hair, Takeda and Kazama’s ties, Sakurai’s lanyard, and Natsumi’s jewelry, shell and eyes. Futaba and Takeda invert their color motifs with their smartphones: Futaba has a purple phone while Takeda has a green one.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Mr. Itomaki the ramen chef is perfectly capable of cooking normal ramen, but he really likes experimenting on new flavors to "push the envelope", like when he developed chocolate ramen for Valentine's Day. Understandably, most people are hesitant to try such crazy flavors.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The opening, "Annoying! San San Week!", is sung by the Japanese VA's for Futaba (Tomori Kusunoki), Sakurai (Saori Hayami), Natsumi (Reina Aoyama), and Mona (Aoi Koga).
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: A non-couple variation. In one episode, Futaba watches Kazama and Sakurai being interviewed on TV where they talk about Futaba and Takeda's uncertain relationship. Embarrassed, Futaba goes to the location of where the interview is being held and beats up Kazama in front of national TV. What makes this even more Disproportionate Retribution is that Kazama never even mentioned Futaba by name and at most he shows the reporter the picture he took of her and Takeda and said photo was not shown on camera.
- Facepalm: Kazama and other male colleagues often use variations on this when confronted with Takeda's sheer ignorance of Futaba's feelings.
- Fake Boobs: Futaba slips a couple of animal head plushies down her shirt to see what she'd look like with bigger breasts. Then she forgets to remove them, runs into Kazama and Takeda on the train home... and while Kazama instantly notices, Takeda is his usual oblivious self, resulting in Kazama's head snapping back and forth as he contemplates the density of Takeda's skull.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The four main characters:
- Futaba is Choleric, irritable (especially towards Takeda), childish, and easily gives in to anything cute.
- Takeda is Sanguine, loud and boisterous and outgoing, and is big-hearted to boot.
- Sakurai is Phlegmatic, kind and sweet, and likes to subtly tease Kazama.
- Kazama is Melancholic, quiet, stoic, and likes to keep to himself, is insecure about his feelings towards Sakurai, but is very observant and helps out his friends in his own discreet way.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the opening intro there's a scene where Futaba is wearing cat ears and presenting the camera person a crepes. Behind her shoulder is a crouching Cute Ghost Girl with her tongue sticking out. The ghost is actually transparent and you can see the copy machine through her!
- Funny Background Event: As Futaba and Sakurai are talking about the problems of D-Cup Distress, the computer screen behind them just happens to have as its wallpaper an image of the Earth and the Sun, drawn to scale.
- A Glitch in the Matrix: During the dream at the beginning of Chapter 90, the fact that it is a dream, and specifically Futaba's dream, is hinted at by the fact that she has breasts during it.
- Hidden Eyes: In this story, obscured eyes are mainly used to signify one-off nobodies, ranging from Casanova Wannabes to major Jerkasses, representing how they're so inconsequential that you don't even get a good look at them, contrasting more neutral to nice background characters who show their eyes. The only exception to this is the Department Chief, who despite being a major recurring character and a Benevolent Boss always has his eyes hidden by either shadow or his prominent bangs.
- Hint Dropping: Sakurai has made it clear on multiple occasions that she would love Kazama to make their relationship more intimate. He soon becomes aware of this, but cannot muster the courage to make that leap.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl; As seen above, Futaba is about half as tall as Takeda, which only encourages people to think they're father and daughter. A partial Gender Flip of this dynamic is seen with Sakurai's little brother Yuuto and Natsumi, but the height difference is justified because Yuuto's a middle schooler.
- In Vino Veritas:
- In an early chapter, Futaba and Takeda are drinking at a pub together. Takeda jokes about wanting to have a daughter like her if he were married. Futaba, in a drunken haze, asks why she couldn’t be the wife in the scenario.
- Kazama mutters how ridiculously cute Sakurai is after just one sip of wine.
- Japanese Honorifics:
- Shortly after starting, Futaba gets annoyed when Sakurai calls her "Igarashi-chan," protesting that she's an adult, whereupon Sakurai switches to calling her "Futaba-chan."
- Futaba uses "-san" on most of her senior colleagues, but uses "-sempai" on Takeda. She considers switching to "-san" for him, but can't.
- Iyashikei: The series depicts an idealized white-collar work environment and city life (complete with a very understanding and supportive superior), focusing on the personal relationships between colleagues working in the same department.
- Male Gaze:
- The story likes having occasional scenes focusing on breasts, whether it's Kazama clearly expressing the belief that Buxom Is Better, Futaba exhibiting A-Cup Angst towards better endowed women, or occasionally just general fanservice, which also includes some shots of the ladies' butts, legs, and bellies.
- The Beach Episode specifically includes pan-up shots starting from the legs just to show how curvy Natsumi, Sakurai, and even Futaba are. Well, outside the embarrassing flatness of Futaba's chest.
- Mistaken for Romance: When Kazama first saw Sakurai with her little brother Yūto, the boy was playfully walking along a short wall, to which Sakurai laughed and smiled amusedly. But from the angle Kazama was looking, the tall plant bush and Yūto facing Sakurai made it look like she was happily and lovingly chatting with a taller man, which sent Kazama into a Heroic BSoD over the belief that Sakurai really did find a boyfriend that makes her happier than he can, and it doesn't end until the misunderstanding is cleared up.
- Odd Friendship: The friendship between Futaba and Takeda. He's big, boisterous, and loud, she's tiny, sarcastic, and prickly.
- Official Couple: As of chapter 192, Kazama and Sakurai now is one.
- One Degree of Separation: Futaba, Natsumi, and Takeda all coincidentally meet Sakurai's little brother Yuuto in various places before they ever find out he's related to her.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Due to their color motifs, Sakurai is the pink girl to Kazama’s blue boy.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The episodic nature of a Slice of Life manga means that several of the chapters are free to be shifted around when adapted in the anime, mainly by taking thematically-related chapters and turning them into a continuous plot, such as Takeda's Sick Episode being moved to happen immediately after Futaba's rather than several chapters later. It also alters how a few events occur, such as changing Natsumi's first meeting with Takeda from happening during a New Year celebration to happening in a Beach Episode.
- Running Gag: A few ones:
- Kazama catching Futaba being cute and/or embarrassing (usually with Takeda) and subsequently taking a picture to send to the company group chat. This usually ends up with him getting knocked out by Futaba.
- Yuuto getting lost before bumping into Futaba, Takeda, or Natsumi.
- Kazama and Sakurai being mistaken by bystanders as a couple or even married. Both of them end up with Luminescent Blushes with Kazama exasperatedly saying She Is Not My Girlfriend, or entertaining the thought... if Sakurai is out of earshot.
- Any of the office cast bumping into Tsukishiro in the most random of places and situations.
- Ooishi being called "Koishi", much to his frustration.
- Shared Dream: There are strong implications that the dream seen in Chapter 90 either wasn't actually a dream at all or that Futaba somehow had the exact same dream as Takeda, as the latter gave the former something they mentioned wanting in said dream.
- Shared Unusual Trait: Futaba and her grandfather are the only characters in the story with an unusual hair color, in this case a dark, leaf-like green, and it's not a case of World of Technicolor Hair because there have been a few in-universe instances which mention how strange it is. The duo also share some major Older Than They Look status, with Futaba looking no older than an elementary student from when she was an elementary student, while Oji-san has constantly looked around his late 30s to early 40s since Futaba was a child. Since the story is for the most part grounded in realism, these two never get an explanation for their unnatural traits.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Everyone in the office wants to see Futaba and Takeda end up together... even if Futaba refuses to acknowledge it and the hints fly way over Takeda's head.
- Takeda (of all people) hints on how Sakurai appears to like Kazama, only for the latter, who was eavesdropping with Futaba, to blush and hide his face in embarassment, while Futaba smugly smiles at him. Not to mention the numerous random people they meet who mistake them as lovers.
- Shout-Out: Episode 6, based on Chapter 105.5, includes a very blatant Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of the Your Name movie, simply having both main characters replaced with Shiro Manta's Author Avatar, with Ojii-chan walking away believing "trading places in their dreams" is something young women do when thinking about guys.
- Sleep Cute: Adorably falling asleep on trains is decently common in the series.
- Futaba passes out on Takeda's shoulder due to exhaustion, and Kazama uses the sight as the perfect basis of a cute animal filter photo. Futaba gives him a heavy chop when she learns of the embarrassing incident.
- Sakurai ends up sleepily resting on Kazama's own shoulder later on.
- Natsumi and Yuuto sleeping on each other on the train home after their Beach Episode with Futaba and the gang in the anime.
- Spit Take: Futaba and Takeda do a dual one. Futaba offers Takeda a cup of coffee at work, but Takeda had one that was loaded with sugar and Futaba had the bitter one. Upon realizing this, they both spit out their coffee in each other’s faces.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Every time Natsumi prods her about her crush, Futaba denies it in ways that make it increasingly obvious to Natsumi who her crush is. It reaches its zenith after Natsumi catches her with Takeda, as Futaba's incredibly specific denial that time is what fully confirms to her that Takeda is the guy Futaba likes, after which she shifts into full-on Shipper on Deck mode.
- Take That!: Everything relating to the existence and character arc of Momiji Okudera is a heavy condemnation of Japan's Workaholic society, especially the existence of black companies that try to systematically break employees into mindless drones of society, by showing how work-life doesn't have to be so exhausting and punishing.
- Troll: Futaba takes a cue from Natsumi's book when she and Kazama are eavesdropping on Takeda and Sakurai, with Takeda (of all people) commenting on how she's attracted to Kazama, causing Kazama to blush and hide his face, to which Futaba teases him about it with the smuggest look in her face. Unfortunately for her, karma bites back when Sakurai asks how close Takeda is with Futaba, with his hearty and honest answer causing her to blush and hide her face.
- Twice Shy: Kazama and Sakurai obviously like each other so much that even Takeda can see it. Too bad one Cannot Spit It Out while the other is an Insecure Love Interest.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: The relationship between Kazama and Sakurai is built on this. Sakurai is clearly ready to go all the way, but is patiently waiting for Kazama to make his move.
- Wrong Assumption: When Futaba first met Natsumi back in middle school, she assumed that by following Natsumi, who was wearing the same uniform, she'd find the way to school. Unfortunately, Natsumi planned on cutting class, and Futaba, who only realized this upon arriving at the arcade, ended up being late.
- Your Television Hates You: Shortly into Golden Week, after finishing cleaning her house, Futaba stumbles upon a horror story on TV that mirrors her exact situation but with something freaky about glowing red eyes staring through the door peephole, which causes Futaba to enter a state of utter terror. After calling Takeda to calm her nerves a little, she puts on a cute animal DVD, but by chance it involves a red panda called Futa-kun (a similar name to hers) being worked up about something unknown, freaking out Futaba even more, which gets exacerbated by Takeda knocking loudly on her door, making her think the horror story is actually happening to her. It takes Takeda yelling her name to make her realize it's him, followed by acting like his normal comforting self, for her terror to subside.
